The reveille of darkness

We keep moving about Gabriel Chase. We find tracks inside the walls, but no Heron-masks. Among the revellers we find a Lady Obelia, a Scintillan noble. She has actually met Erasmus Haarlock, while he was still a happy man. We ask her about heron masks, and she tells us 'he came with a bunch of them', pointing at Lar'ax Melua.

He is standing in a corner, looking lost. Holder-Smith and I approach him. He is not responsive, and is bleeding profusely. We get him to an adjacent room. Holder-Smith examines his blood, it is 'dead'. Potters magic does not work on him either.

Then suddenly 6 heron masks and a demon come pouring through a secret door. Again we fight for our lives. Alpha passes out at the beginning of the fight, and eventually both Potter and I are spent too before we finish them of.

After the fight Holder-Smith examines Lar'ax more closely; his hart has been removed and he has been, well, dead for several hours. Probably his still be able to move is a result of the ritual we saw the remnants of not too many hours ago. Holder-Smith severs his spine, and tells Du'landra that he is dead. She grieves, but we convince her to come along.

10 bells. They shake the entire castle, ending with the sound of 1000 cogs turned in unison. I talk to Old man Vipus. He remebers the previous reveille, it was different from this one. The sounds and the severity of the bells was less. He dislikes the kills of the widower as well. He also tries to comfort Du'landra.

11 bells. Incredibly loud sound. People start looking scared. It ends with a barely audible, high pitched laugther. We see the jackal mask in the crowd, he nods his head at us, and disappears.

We try to recruit some help, and wind up in conversation with some Gunmetal nobles. Nobles/crimelords if one third of the stuff I have heard is true... They should, on the other hand, have some experience with combat. At least in shooting at living things, though probably not immortal assassins or warp-infused megalomaniacal chaos worshippers. Note the or, much less with an and. Not that we have experience with that, least of all with an and.

12 bells, the lights go out, we feel a draft and hear a squishing sound. When the light goes on there is blood and remains on the clock, and a hand in the hands. Du'landras, it turns out. Someone recognized the old blood, and put it where we want it. Poor girl. The clock radiates cold, and it is very difficult to be close to it.

13 bells. A cold wind through the room. The sun disappears. The nobles look at each other. All the 1000 clocks in the amphitheater start ticking in sync with the steel clock. Then they all start on the 13 strikes. Holder-Smith and I stand right by the clock.

THE heron mask, Beloved, starts shouting, calling the Widower. The Jackal mask comes walking through the crowd. But it is not the Jackal mask, but someone wearing his mask, and under that his skin. The Widower. Beloved and Widower stand staring at each other, while heron masks murder indiscriminately among the nobles. We see again, a bright dark; we are standing in the light of the Tyrant Star.

We start breaking the clock face. Dar breaks it, and the clock shatters, shooting cogs in all directions. Holder-Smith takes the stone, and Dar charges him. We later found out that Dar was under the influence of his dagger, but at the time we were very confused. Of course, we are used to not understanding, and so we grapple him to the ground. All the while Holder-Smith is trying to break the stone.

Widower and Beloved fight; Widower strikes at Beloved, for every connection one of Beloveds minions fall, and Beloved blasts away at Widower with some incomparable warp magic. Eventually the Widower is killed, reduced to protean slime and a mask. Beloved grabs the mask, laughs loudly, and leaves.

Holder-Smith fails to break the stone, he tries with all we have, and with Haarlock blood in the mix, but no effect. The Steel Clock was probably the Widowers hart, and breaking it we made it possible to kill him. Beloved seems elated with the outcome, and does not seem to take interest in the stone. Holder-Smith charges of after him.

We hear a demonic voice from the mask, as we close with Beloveds minions. A short but uneffectual fight, and Beloved is gone through a portal. We leave Gabriel Chase, looking for Beloved. Grasping at straws we search out the Spider Bride. But there too havoc has called, she and her handmaidens lay broken about, she states she has been killed by destiny. She says that Beloved has left Xicarp

Letting it all sink in, we come to the conclusion that the Widower underestimated Beloved, and that Beloved is looking for the Haarlock Warrant. The Spider Brides final act is to tell us that Beloved has gained a very powerful oracle in the remains of the Widower. Of course, as we have learnt, oracles are seldom a blessing, so he shall be welcome to him.